The Nymph Pond
by Lazy Lazuli
Summary: When Minerva McGonagall finds a report from Arabella Figg, she immediately moves to save Harry Potter. How will 4-year-old Harry Potter's life change when he grows up with his godfather's cousin Andromeda's family?
1. The Importance of Reading

**The Nymph Pond**

Lazy Lazuli

Chapter 1

The Importance of Reading

_This Chapter is dedicated to the lightning bolt. As the wonderful JKR once said "I couldn't very well have my hero have a doughnut shaped scar, could I?"_

Summary: When Minerva McGonagall stumbles on a report from Arabella Figg to Albus Dumbledore, she is shocked at what she finds and immediately acts to have Harry Potter moved from the Dursleys' custody. How will four year old Harry Potter's life change when he now lives with his godfather's cousin Andromeda and finds out he is a wizard?

"Hershey's kisses."

Slightly shaking her head at the headmaster's abnormal password, she swiftly walked past the gargoyle, up the staircase into Dumbledore's room.

"Albus?"

There was no reply.

Minerva McGonagall waited patiently in a chair while she waited for the headmaster. While she was waiting, Fawkes flew over to Albus's desk and pick up a piece of paper, which he handed to Minerva. Confused, she scanned the paper, her face paling.

_Hello, Professor Dumbledore,_

_As you can guess, it's me, Arabella. This is my monthly report on Harry Potter._

_I am not happy with the Dursleys. The boy is only three, and they treat him like a slave! Last week, I saw Dudley lounging about on the front lawn, and Harry came out and brought him some lemonade. It may have seemed like Harry wanted to do something nice for his cousin, but moments before, Dudley had been screaming into the house, and then Harry had been shoved out of the house, being told not to spill the lemonade. There was a bruise on his shin._

_That would have been the magnitude of my report, if it hadn't been for something yesterday. Yesterday the Dursleys went out to celebrate the Whale (Dudley)'s birthday and they sent him to me. As per your orders, I did my best to be as annoying as possible, and I'm sure he thinks I'm quite batty. However, on the way here, he slipped into a ditch in my garden where I had been digging up an old plant. I thought the Dursleys would hit him if he came home with dirt all over his clothes. I pretended to be annoyed with him, and washed his shirt. When he took off his shirt, I could quite plainly see bruises everywhere on his body that would look appropriate on Mad-Eye Moody in the middle of the war! The boy had plainly been abused, Dumbledore, much more severely than we originally thought, and I have half a mind to kidnap him myself! Reply immediately, Dumbledore. You give the word, and he is out of there._

_Sincerely,_

_Arabella Figg_

Arabella Figg, Minerva's sister, was the one Dumbledore had asked to watch over Harry. The headmaster had been surprisingly unwilling to disclose information on that subject, but from this letter, she could see why. How could have Albus done such a thing!

On the other hand, now that Arabella had given Dumbledore this new information, he might pull him out of there! Yes, all would be well. Maybe she would volunteer to take care of Harry…

As if to contradict those thought, Fawkes pushed another piece of parchment to her. Dumbledore had been drafting a reply.

_Dear Arabella,_

_As I have told you the last time you reported severe abuse, his relatives house is the safest place for him until he is seventeen._

_However, I think that some more information may be useful for you. The reason that Harry must stay with the Dursleys is because of his mother. On the night of Voldemort's fall, Lily Potter shielded Harry with her own life. Harry is protected as long he is with his mother's blood._

_I would suggest slipping Harry a mild healing potion the next time he is at your house…_

A mild healing potion? That was all the most powerful wizard of the age could offer the boy who lived? And practically ignoring the fact that Harry Potter was being abused by "his mother's blood"? Why, if the staff saw this, there would be mutiny. That would certainly put Dumbledore in his place…

No. Their headmaster may be incompetent in this matter, but in everywhere else, he was doing all right. The simple solution would be for her to create her own version of keeping Harry safe, one that the headmaster would agree to. Of course, if she did that, it would have to tie in with what the headmaster was doing, blood magic, simply to make Albus agree faster.

Now what could she do…

~*~

Back in her own office, she read the letter for the billionth time while tapping her fingers. It had been hard to go through the meeting with the headmaster without pushing him out the window when she remembered what Albus was doing (nothing), but she had managed it.

Now she needed to save Harry.

But there was just no easy solution. Minerva had taken out at least half the library and pored through books about blood magic, but none of them seemed to agree with each other. The only good book was a book that explained how to cast the blood wards based on a sacrifice, but the wards couldn't be cast on a human, and the book wouldn't explain more.

Maybe she should just swallowed her pride and ask Albus. But that would be putting Harry's wellbeing in Albus's hands again, and look what he was doing with it now!

Suddenly there was a flash of flame and Fawkes appeared in her office. Thinking the headmaster might soon follow, she quickly banished all the blood magic books under her desk, and pulled out a teaching plan. But it was only Fawkes.

The phoenix hopped onto her desk and flew onto her hand. Fawkes seemed to want her to grab his tail feathers. Minerva tightly grasped the phoenix's feathers, and with a flash of fire, found herself in Albus's office. Rather confused, Minerva searched for a sign of the headmaster, even using Homonum Revelio, and didn't notice Fawkes pressing a talon down onto a button on Dumbledore's desk. A hidden drawer sprung open and revealed its contents to Minerva. Inside was a letter with the seal of Gringotts on it, and a little box. Confused, Minerva opened the letter.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore._

_James and Lily Potter's will states that on his fourth birthday, Harry Potter is to receive the enclosed package and letter. Because Harry Potter's current address is not recorded, we are entrusting you to get this package to him by that time._

_I would also like to remind you that James and Lily Potter's will also states that he is to receive certain packages on his 7__th__, 11__th__ and 14__th__ birthday. If you would like to redirect these packages as well, send notice to Griphook the Goblin._

_Sincerely,_

_Ringlegop_

_Goblin in charge of Special Inheritance._

And then, another letter.

_Dear Professor Dumbledore_

_This letter has been sent to you to confirm your decision of having the gifts from Lily and James Potter's will sent to you instead. To change this decision, please send an owl to Griphook the Goblin._

_Sincerely,_

_Ringlegop_

_Goblin in charge of Special Inheritance._

Why, that meddlesome, barmy… thought McGonagall before she interrupted herself. She could deal with Albus later. For now, she should probably find some way to protect Harry…

And that was when McGonagall opened the little box to find a metal pendant, very simply designed, shaped liked a muggle guitar pick necklace, on a strong black cord, along with a slip of paper that read…

_**Magical Object Registration Record**_

_Name: Undecided_

_Security Level: 19 (Record is kept with the creator of the object and can only be revealed by creator. This security level applies to all those equal to or less than the Minister for Magic)_

_Creator: Lily Potter nee Evans_

_Created on: August 19__th__, 1980_

_Description: Black Iron pendant. Design based on Muggle Guitar pick necklace. Contains no actual charms, but metal is designed to contain extremely advanced protective magic. Kept in Gringotts special inheritance chamber AL-146 for Harry James Potter on his fourth birthday_

McGonagall read this slip of paper, paying deep attention to the part about "designed to contain extremely advanced protective magic." What a coincidence…

~*~

"Get up, boy!"

Petunia Dursley continually rapped on the door of the cupboard where the newly four year old boy named Harry Potter lived.

"Make some breakfast, Diddykins is extra hungry today, boy!"

While Petunia made her way back in the kitchen just as Harry was waking up, the phone ring, and Petunia picked up the phone.

"Dursley Residence." she announced in her "perfect housewife" tone.

"Hello, Petunia, it's me, Arabella. I'm sure you may have heard that I broke my leg tripping over one of my cats yesterday. I was hoping that Harry could come to my house and help me around since he was so helpful when he visited on Dudley's birthday."

"Oh, er, well, I suppose that's okay…"

"Excellent! Why don't you send him up here right now?"

Arabella Figg hung up before Petunia could refuse.

"Boy! You're expected at Mrs. Figg's house!"

~*~

Arabella Figg hung up before Petunia could refuse and then turned back to the three other people in her living room.

"He's coming" she announced to Minerva McGonagall, Filius Flitwick, and Rubeus Hagrid.

_Intricacies:_

_~ So, we have reached the first chapter of this new fic! My other fics you may want to try are Harry Potter and the Elva Seed on SIYE, and Holly Potter and the Silver Doe (my primary fic) on Mugglenet Fan Fiction, same username, if it gets submitted._

_~ Yes, Flitwick is the headmaster of Hogwarts, not Dumbledore or McGonagall. Details in the next chapter!_


	2. White Cottage

**The Nymph Pond**

Lazy Lazuli

Chapter Two

White Cottage

_This chapter is dedicated to the beta that I don't have (hint, hint) _

Harry Potter walked along Wisteria Walk towards Mrs. Figg's house on his fourth birthday. Mrs. Figg claimed to have a broken leg, but he knew that wasn't true because he just saw her this morning through the kitchen bedroom while he was making breakfast. He would never contradict the Dursleys, of course, he still had some bruises from the time that he had a moment of mutiny and refused to serve Dudley lemonade.

Inside was a collection of people he had never seen before, except for Mrs. Figg. First there was the already rather batty Mrs. Figg, surrounded by her cats and just as Harry suspected, no broken leg. Sitting on the opposite end of the couch was a stern looking woman, who seemed the most ordinary of them all, even though she was wearing some strange robe, and looked very strict. Between them was another rather strict looking woman with brown hair, and a slightly over weight man with blond hair. Crouched in the corner was the largest man Harry had ever seen. He simply looked to large to be _allowed_. And as if to contradict this man, a tiny little man was propped up on a bar stool next to him, and was the same height as him, mostly because of the barstool.

"Please sit down, Harry." said Mrs. Figg. For a moment, Harry was afraid, but these people did not look like they would hurt him.

"Harry, my name is Andromeda Tonks, and this is my husband, Ted. I'm your godfather's cousin." said the brown haired woman.

"I don't have a godfather…" said Harry.

"Figures those bastards wouldn't tell them anything." interrupted the strict woman. "Why don't you sit down Harry, we have a bit of a story for you."

"You're a wizard, Harry."

In shock, Harry said the only thing that would come to him. "No, I'm not."

"Yes, you are Harry, just listen." said the strict woman, proving how strict she was.

"There is a world out there, a magical world, one that is hidden from Muggles, who are people who do not have magic. Magical children go to Hogwarts, a school where people learn to control their powers, when they turn eleven. I'm Professor McGonagall, and I'm one of the teachers there. Professor Flitwick also teaches there, and Hagrid is the Groundskeeper"

"Now, not all wizards and witches are good people. There was one very bad wizard and people were so afraid of him that most people did not even speak his name. "Voldemort".

"Now, He Who Must Not Be Named was getting more and more powerful, and one day, he decided to attack your parents, James and Lily Potter. He killed both your mother and your father that day, but when he tried to kill you, and used the killing curse, it didn't work, and He Who Must Not Be Named lost his powers. You are right now the only wizard to have ever survived the Killing Curse, which makes you famous in our world.

"When you needed a place to live, Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts put you with the Dursleys, even though I tried to convince him not to. I knew you probably didn't have the best childhood, but I didn't know it was this bad.

"But Dumbledore did. Mrs. Figg was supposed to send reports to Dumbledore about what happened at the Dursleys, so he knew about the abuse, but he didn't do anything about it because He Who Must Not Be Named would be back someday and you had to be protected, and living with your mother's blood would protect you. This was very wrong of him, even though he had good intentions, so he was fired fro the position of Headmaster and replaced with Professor Flitwick. But we have another way to protect you.

McGonagall reached into her robes and pulled out a black iron pendant on a cord with a red lightning bolt on it.

"As long as you wear this pendant Harry, you don't have to live with the Dursleys and live with Andromeda, Ted and their daughter Nymphadora."

As soon as McGonagall finished speaking, Harry reached out to take the pendant and put it on. For a moment, the lightning bolt flashed briefly in sync with his scar, and the cord adjust to fit around his small neck.

"I'm really a wizard?" asked Harry wonderingly. Ted could see that Harry was not accusing them but merely afraid that what they said wasn't true.

"Yes, you're a wizard Harry. You're going to have a great life as a wizard with us and our daughter, okay, kiddo?" said Ted.

"Okay." Harry said simply. Then, surprisingly, he put his arms around his new guardian and hugged Ted, while Andromeda smiled at the two of them. "Thank you." said Harry.

Ted picked up a handful of floo powder from the little box hidden behind a picture of a cat, threw it into the fire place, and called out "White Cottage!"

~*~

Harry was astounded at the perfect combination of cleanliness and hominess contained within White Cottage. While Privet Drive was certainly clean, it was not homey. Sort of life someone who had had plastic surgery; it looked nice, but it was not real.

Andromeda told Harry her and Ted's story and White Cottage's story while the ascended the stairs.

"I was born to the Black Family. They were one of the families that supported Voldemort's beliefs that Muggle borns (wizards and witches that come from non magic families) were unworthy of magic, and Muggles were no more than animals. For a while, I followed this belief too, but more because my family expected me to than anything. When I went to Hogwarts, I met Ted, who is a muggle born and realized how wrong my parents were. When I married Ted, they disowned me.

"Ted had a sister named Cassandra, and she married one of my Hogwarts friends, Matthew White, whose family owned White Cottage. But they died in the first war and left the cottage to us. We've lived here ever since. White Cottage is in Sindryal, a small town in the country where both muggles and wizards live.

Now Harry was set down in his new bedroom, which was painted with blue and red. Ted wanted it to be red and gold, but Andromeda replaced the gold with blue, saying that since their bedroom was red and gold, she should get to decide Harry's room, and Ted agreed.

"Now, Harry, while you live with us." began Andromeda. "I know it might be a bit of a stretch to call me mum, so you can call us Aunt Andromeda and Uncle Ted, okay?"

Harry nodded, while still taking in the room.

Andromeda and Ted left the room to leave Harry to his devices, a young girl about nine years old walked in.

"Hello!" she chirped brightly.

"H-hi." Harry muttered.

"I'm Nymphadora, but I prefer to be call Tonks usually." said Tonks.

Harry didn't reply.

"So, are you Harry?" asked Tonks.

"Yes."

"So, Harry, do you want to see something cool? If you want, I could show you the Nymph Pond!"

There was a moment of silence, and then…

"Okay."

_Intricacies:_

_~ A lot of people got confused about an author's note on the last chapter. When I said Flitwick was Headmaster, I meant that AFTER DUMBLEDORE GOT FIRED, Flitwick becomes headmaster._


	3. When Harry Met Ella

**The Nymph Pond**

Lazy Lazuli

Chapter Three

When Harry met Ella

_This chapter is dedicated to the quote: "A good writer makes mistakes, and when he realizes them, he uses them to make the story better". Guess who first said that quote!_

_Intricacies:_

_This time, the intricacies are before the chapter, to avoid confusion._

_Yes, Tonks is younger than she is in canon, because I wanted her and Harry to really bond, and that wouldn't happen if she knew him for a summer than went right to Hogwarts_

_Also, last chapter, somebody complained that Harry was being told too much. Well, I'm sorry if you thought that, but it's one of my rights as the author to decide what goes on in my story. I did draw the line at the prophecy, and if you pay attention, then you'll see that most of what was told to Harry was based off of what Hagrid told Harry in The Philosopher's Stone._

_One last thing, I forgot to add dedications to my previous chapters, but they are added now, so if you have time, go back and check those out!_

Harry followed his new sister down the stairs, where they ran into strange little creature with tennis ball green eyes and droopy ears, which looked very old and wrinkly in an endearing sort of way, like someone's grandmother.

"Good afternoon, Missy Tonks. Who is the little boy?" asked the elf, which looked somewhat female.

"This is Harry." announced Tonks. "He's living with us now. Harry, this is Krilla. She's sort of our house elf."

"What's a house elf?" asked Harry.

"A house elf is a magical creature that is forced to do a magical family's bidding. Usually House Elves are happy to help, but sometimes families, like my mum's family, are mean to them, so when my mum ran away from home, she brought Krilla with her. Now Krilla's retired, but she still helps my mum sometimes. Now come on, let's see the nymph pond!"

Tonks led Harry, practically dragging him by the hand, to the woods behind White Cottage. After following a path for a few minutes, she took a sudden left, and they arrived at the most magical pond Harry had ever seen. It was surrounded by a ring of pebbles, and then larger rocks covered in moss. The pong itself was filled with sparkling blue water, and there was a shadow at the bottom.

Suddenly, the shadow rose to the surface of the pool, and jumped out with a splash that drenched both Harry and Tonks, who giggled. The "shadow" made its way to the edge and popped its head out of the water.

The Shadow turned out to be a girl around his age, with light blonde hair and deep blue eyes.

"Harry, this is Ella. She's a nymph." announced Tonks.

"Nice to meet you, Harry!" said Ella.

"Hi… Um… Tonks?" asked Harry.

"Yes?"

"What's a nymph?"

"A nymph is a spirit of Nature. Ella is a pond nymph, or a Naiad. But now there are very few nymphs left. With all the water pollution, most of them turned into merpeople or kelpies, who are shape shifting water creatures, to save themselves." explained Tonks.

"Yes. There was a cottage here called Nymph Cottage, and it was the home of a woman named Nymphadora Hufflepuff."

"Who my mom decided to name me after." interrupted Tonks, with an angry look on her face.

"Yes, and Nymphadora Hufflepuff found this pond here, with a family of nymphs living in it, and used her magic to keep the pond pure and clean forever. But then, when she died, the magic wore off, so all the nymphs left and became merpeople, except for one baby nymph who was left behind by accident. Then Helga Hufflepuff, Nymphadora's daughter, came to visit, only to find her mother dead, and the nymphs gone. So she buried her mother and redid the charms on the pond, hoping the nymphs would come back, this time making the charms last forever, using her powerful magic. Then she shrunk the cottage down into the size of a dollhouse, so that no one would come and live there and disrupt the nymphs."

"About a hundred years ago, the Whites built a new cottage on top of where Nymph Cottage was, and now Andromeda and Ted own it. They know I live here, but they keep it a secret because of new laws that the ministry created involving the control of magical creatures. So you can't tell anyone unless you really trust them, okay, Harry?"

"Okay, Ella." said Harry.

"Now let's swim!" said Tonks.

"Oh, I don't know how to swim." said Harry.

"Well, we can teach you!" said Ella. "Come on in!"

~*~

Over the next few weeks, Harry and Tonks would wake up early in the morning, eat breakfast, and head to the Nymph Pond to play with Ella. With the help of Tonks and Ella, Harry was able to swim very nicely for a five year old.

Also over the next few weeks, Harry got to know his new family much better.

Ted Tonks owned a construction company for both muggles and wizards. His best friend from school, Josh Boot owned was an architect and designed most of the building that his company made.

Andromeda Tonks was part time manager of Flourish and Botts in Diagon Alley, and got a great discount on the many books in the Tonks household. When she wasn't working at the bookstore, she stayed at home watching over Tonks and Harry.

However, Tonks seemed to need much more watching than Harry, because of her naturally mischievous nature. More than once, Tonks would lay her hands on her mother's wand, and then there would be a giant slug in the garden, or the roof would turn orange. Tonks once convinced Harry to try the wand, and the trees in the backyard turned upside down. It took Andromeda Tonks, a dusty textbook from the attic, and Ted's entire construction crew to turn the trees right side up.

After living there for the summer, Harry knew that White Cottage was a much better place to live than Privet Drive. There was more open space, because they were relatively isolated from the town of Sindryal. The house had a very homey feeling to it, and the air was simply magical. The Cottage was painted pure white, and was magically charmed to keep that color, so entering it was almost like a castle of snow. The roof and window shutters were painted an exact shade of grey, so that went the sunlight, they would sparkle like silver.

For those few weeks, Harry Potter was a bit timid, and almost never talked. But gradually, he began to open and laughed readily at Tonks's jokes.

Minerva McGonagall and Filius Flitwick both constantly visited at first, but when they saw that Harry was genuinely happy at the Tonks, they limited their visits to every couple of months, although Professor McGonagall came more often to discuss Transfiguration with Andromeda, one of her favourite previous students. Through these visits, Harry and Tonks began to see the two professors as uncle and aunts, though Tonks slightly less so, Professor McGonagall with her strict but fond demeanour, and Professor Flitwick with his constant entertaining charms tricks. Andromeda was sure to remind the children that when they went to school, they would have to stay "Professional".

An even more frequent visitor was Rubeus Hagrid. At first, he would continually spoil the children with toys, books, and games, until eventually Andromeda put her foot down, but he still continuously visited, and the children would shout with delight when he did.

Mrs. Figg visited almost as much as Hagrid, but after Harry left the Dursleys, she moved to a house in Sindryal, so the children would visit her sometimes.

Harry was very happy at White Cottage. After finally coming out of his shell, he would be asking questions all the time, and some of them were so out there that even McGonagall and Flitwick couldn't answer them. Everyone could see he was adjusting to the fact that he was a wizard, and he even stole Andromeda's wand himself sometimes.

Ella would often come up to the house and play with Harry and Tonks there. She visited Mrs. Figg with Tonks and Harry once, and came back with a pet kneazle named Wetpaw, because he loved swimming and water, something unusual for all cats. Harry could see that Krilla and Ella got along very well, and they both adored Wetpaw, who was becoming a bit spoiled with all the attention.

And then September came, and the subject of primary school was raised…

_Intricacies:_

_Okay, now you guys deserve a BIG FAT apology for not updating! I'm really sorry, but I said I would write this sequel for a story by another author, and I figured I should work on that first. It's still not finished, but I got this done anyway!_

_One thing that I wanted to mention was that I also have an account on , also known as Lazy Lazuli. On there is a Next Generation story called Holly Potter and the Silver Doe, that hasn't received a lot of reviews, and I would REALLY like it if I got more reviews for that story! If I get a lot, I would probably update this faster… You can probably find the story or my account my searching on google._


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